The mother of a veteran who took his own life has called on the federal government to "fix" the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide, saying it's hamstrung by parliamentary privilege protections.
Julie-Ann Finney, who became a high-profile campaigner after her son, petty officer David Finney, died by suicide in 2019, has spent the past year travelling the country, attending public hearings and listening in as the commissioners gather evidence.
This week, she arrived in Darwin, where a fortnight of hearings will explore the impact of isolation and the experiences of First Nations veterans and members.
But Ms Finney said parliamentary privilege protections prevented commissioners from investigating some reports and similar matters that are considered proceedings of parliament.
The royal commission's interim report, handed down in August, included a recommendation to remove those protections, with the commissioners noting it had "hindered" investigations into systemic issues.
“It impedes transparency surrounding government decisions and acts as a shield for the executive from accountability for their commitments and actions taken to implement matters subject to privilege,” the interim report said.
Ms Finney said she was not surprised the government had not accepted the recommendation.
"The commissioners are asking great questions, the interim report was good," Ms Finney said.
"But I could guess straight away which recommendation the government would not take, and that was parliamentary privilege.
"If you're going to investigate something, you have to be able to drill down."
In its response to the interim report, the government said royal commissions were able to "carry out their functions" without an exemption from the parliamentary privilege protections.
“Parliamentarians could not do the work they do to represent their communities and serve the country without the proper and appropriate protection that is provided by parliamentary privilege,” a spokesperson for Veterans’ Affairs Minister Matt Keogh said.
“There are alternative approaches available to the royal commission to engaging with materials to which parliamentary privilege might apply that might enable them to do their work.”
Last month, Independent Senator Jacqui Lambie introduced a private senator’s bill to remove the parliamentary privilege protections for the royal commission, a month after she gave evidence of her own experiences in the army.
Ms Finney also called on the royal commission to include submissions from lived experience witnesses as evidence that could be used to make adverse findings.
In his opening remarks in Darwin, counsel assisting Peter Singleton noted submissions from such witnesses were treated as "evidence of their perceptions and feelings" but not used to make adverse findings.
"I'm not looking for revenge or justice, and nor are most people I know, but I am looking for accountability, and that is not going to happen," Ms Finney said.
"It is the [alleged] perpetrators getting to give all the evidence, and it is the lived experience not being heard."
A spokeswoman for the royal commission said some lived experience witnesses may be able to give evidence which could be used to make adverse findings, and said hearing from people with lived experience was the commission's highest priority.
"It has always endeavoured to receive such evidence in a trauma-informed way that gives weight to the wishes of the witness of how their evidence should be given," the spokeswoman said.
"Some of the witnesses who give lived experience evidence do so on the basis that they are not to be cross examined.
"Other witnesses have been called to give evidence including their lived experiences without those limitations applying … their evidence may be used to make specific findings provided a fair process is followed."
Labor MP for the Darwin seat of Solomon, Luke Gosling, who previously served in the Australian Defence Force, said there were ways the royal commission could access information made public under parliamentary privilege.
"That is a longstanding tradition of the parliament and it isn't something that would be changed in a quick way," he said.
"[The royal commission] can simply talk to witnesses or go to other documents that exist and won't disturb the parliamentary privilege aspect."
Mr Gosling said the government supported the majority of the recommendations made by the commission's interim report.
